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Minn. Supreme Court Rules for Franken; Coleman Concedes

Updated, 4:05 p.m. ET: Former senator Norm Coleman conceded to Democrat Al Franken, ending the Minnesota Senate race that has drawn on since November and clearing the way for Franken to become the 60th Democrat in the Senate.

"The Supreme Court has made its decision and I will abide by the results," Coleman told reporters at an afternoon press conference outside his home in St. Paul.

The Court's decision, which was released just after 2 p.m., was long anticipated by both sides and in the days leading up to the ruling conventional wisdom among Republicans was that there was little appetite for former senator Norm Coleman to keep up his legal fight.

On Sunday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) indicated he was inclined to sign the certificate of election for Franken if the state's Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Democrat.

If, as expected, this ruling forces a concession from Coleman, Senate Democrats will quickly move to seat Franken to bolster their numbers.

While Franken is technically the 60th democratic vote, Sens. Robert Byrd and Ted Kennedy are both in ill health and are not able to vote.

What the decision means for Coleman's political future is less clear.

Some have mentioned him running for the open governorship in 2010 but his extended legal fight has damaged him in the eyes of many voters -- making such a bid risky.

I disagree it was a "folly" and the White House grounds are hardly the entire Executive branch (think of every Cabinet dept.).

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Who cares if you agree or disagree? You're a moron, and your mind is not whole.

Nodebris already answered you with pitch-perfect clarity, omitting nothing but your endless screech about Obama's f*cking birth certificate. Just shut up, everyone's heard all you have to say a thousand times.

My guess is that Coleman got the news that any appeal to the "ROBERTS Supreme Court" would be declined. He didn't decide to throw in the towel because he got a late attack of civic-mindedness, any suggestion of fair play would have shown up months ago.

And even had the "ROBERTS Supreme Court" elected to hear Coleman's cheesy whine, the outcome would have been the same, because after all, Franken got more votes.

The effect would have been only to thwart the wish of the voters a few more months .. might have been worth it if the GOP had any more room to fall, but really they don't, the only supporters they have left are hate-crazed teabaggers and biblethumpers in the deep south.

Coleman is finished. A principled and timely concession would have allowed him a shot at succeeding Pawlenty, now there is no chance of that.

And it didn't even change the outcome of a single vote in the Senate while Coleman denied reality.

Way to go, stupid Republicans, enemies of democracy, traitors to America.

White House expenses again. Sigh. Suddenly, since Obama was elected, that's an acutely pressing topic. Yeah. Right. You keep pushing that one, and no one bites. It's really that dumb, you can't even get zouk on board for it.

It's clear what you're doing: Let's discuss anything except the unfortunate point of the actual thread, i.e., that Franken won, like we all long ago knew he had, despite the money fools spent making Coleman and Republicans look bad by fighting the issue long past its expiration date. Another grotesque failure for conservatives -- and one of jaked's particular pet causes, too. No wonder he keeps trying to change the subject. Transparent, much?

No, let's stay on topic and discuss what an enormous, pointless, and self-destructive waste it was financing the last few months of Coleman's battle. Did it stop any legislation? No. Did it make Republicans look good? No. Did it establish some principle? No. Did it make Republicans look desperate, power-hungry children who can't work and play well with others? Yes.

For the record. Next canard. Anyone else? If anyone besides jaked cares to discuss, I'll be at an undisclosed location awaiting your worship. Because of online threats I've suffered. But at least I'm civil. No, you answer my question first. Amp. Click. Whrrrrrrrrrr.

We all know how much time this Coleman wasted, what is the amount of taxpayer money he wasted in this time of economic stress? Some of these jerks will do anything at all to hold on to power at any and all costs and the taxpayers/voters be damned!

I have a great deal of sympathy for Mrs. Yates -- she was clearly suffering from a religious mania when she drowned her children. She needed help long before she had her last baby and she didn't get it. What she did was a crime.

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I disagree. I think it was her husband deserved to go to jail.

For a woman to kill her own children without any possible gain from the act is not the behavior of a sane person. She was savagely depressed and incapable yet her husband was so enamored with the idea of polluting the future with his religious genes that he forced his wife to bear him one child after another, after another, after another.

Killing her children was wrong, of course, but the law is not indifferent to the mental state of the accused. I think she should have gone to an institution, not to prison.

I have a great deal of sympathy for Mrs. Yates -- she was clearly suffering from a religious mania when she drowned her children. She needed help long before she had her last baby and she didn't get it. What she did was a crime. Susan Smith chose to kill her boys and lie about it rather than woman-up: what she did was also a crime.

Yes, Britain's health care system is not perfect. Nor is Canada's or France. We can learn a lot from them. Nye Bevan said he knew he had done a good thing with National Health when an older woman came up to him in a slum and thanked him for her false teeth. She said she could now eat better and she could go to church without feeling ashamed of being toothless. He said it was the most humbling thing he had ever heard.

Now, Jake, go out on the porch and have a drink with your wife. Life is too short.

vehicular manslaughter is just a "difficult choice" for those who drink and drive too?

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The fact that you need to resort to ridiculous hyperbole like this should give you a clue that logic is not on your side.

In manslaughter or murder or even infanticide a *person* dies .. someone who has experienced enough of life to have developed an individual and distinctive outlook. It's not only human flesh that dies, it's a human mind.

In the case of abortion none of this is true; there is as yet no individual, no distinctive experience, there is only flesh.

Abortion is no more immoral, really, than pulling off a hangnail. Neither has distinctiveness, nor experience, nor anything more human than some DNA.

One last note about "on-line threats" -- I will try to check in later if anyone other than "chrisfox8" wants to discuss -- I've never denied that Obama is the de facto "President" and 18 USC § 871(a) is very clear on prosecution (I would throw in the question about his natural-born citizenship as a defense though):

"Whoever knowingly and willfully deposits for conveyance in the mail or for a delivery from any post office or by any letter carrier any letter, paper, writing, print, missive, or document containing any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President ... or knowingly and willfully otherwise makes any such threat against the President ... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

You seemed interested in where the different proposals are going -- I'm just pointing out that there's enough opposition to taxpayer-funded abortions -- vehicular manslaughter is just a "difficult choice" for those who drink and drive too?

I myself am a mother. Motherhood is my favorite part of my life. I understand that some women just cannot be mothers (yet/again/just now) even though they find themselves pregnant. I would rather that every pregnancy was a wanted pregnancy, but I accept that I do not control other people and that they have to make difficult decisions for themselves.

I'm looking forward to seeing health care reform that
spreads health care to everyone,
that is focused on cost-effective practices and
is built on contracts that are well-defined and uniform.

If he'd conceded in January, voters remorse would have him leading the polls for the Governor's office. But now, who wants him? He's branded as a sore loser.

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If only. Coleman is the guy who tried to subvert the democratic process because he felt entitled to his seat, regardless of the voters' wishes. He's a lot worse than a sore loser, he's anti-democratic.

Indeed, some "threats" (against pResident Obama, for instance) are illegal whether one can carry out said threat or not -- I'm not talking about an illegal threat, though -- just angry words typed by a frustrated, bi-sexual atheist that you (mibrooks27) admit to not seeing. Maybe you were fishing at the time?

As I recall, I simply told him I wasn't worried about his threat -- which only made him angrier -- no big surprise that he denies it now. Regardless of whether his threat was "sputteringly impotent" or not, if I typed out a similar threat like that, it would still be a threat (maybe I could carry it out without you knowing about it ; )

JakeD - I have never heard chrisfox make any sort of violent threats against anyone. We correspond and I find him reasonable, albeit passionate, about the issues he believes in. He is, by the way, actually a very nice person.

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Why thank you.

Jake is lying, of course. If I had made anything remotely like a physical threat (why would I, he's anonymous, such a threat would be sputteringly impotent), you can bet he would be posting it and mentioning it every ten minutes for sixteen hours a day.

JakeD - I have never heard chrisfox make any sort of violent threats against anyone. We correspond and I find him reasonable, albeit passionate, about the issues he believes in. He is, by the way, actually a very nice person.

"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. HE shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years ... In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of HIS Death,

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And you claim to be old enough to be retired.

It was only a few short decades ago that the generic "he" was understood to refer to both genders. Under the influence (read: nagging) of a few radical feminists, our language has been adulterated by the awkward formulation "he / she" and its direct-object and possessive variants, and a dramatic uptick in the abhorrent use of "they" as a singular. A new pronoun would have been a better solution, or the overloading of "it."

Whew! I wonder what kind of credulous dolt would flush his money down the toilet like that, giving it to Coleman?

But come to think of it, it's probably the same sort of people who adamantly support Palin, eh? You go, Sarah girl. There's a lot more conservative dollars to burn through out there, y'betcha.

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Don't you think a lot of Democrats are donating to SarahPAC? Isn't it very VERY much in Democrats' interest that Sarah stays in the public eye, keeps shooting off her mouth, keeps being named as the probable next presidential nominee?

Nixon radicalized a lot of people leftward, Sarah must have a hundred times Nixon's potency to repel.

Not to mention, every dollar sent to Caribou Barbie is one dollar fewer sent to someon who has more of a shot.

"I certainly can't control how other people respond (or don't) to my questions -- on another thread, someone threatened to punch me in the teeth -- that's not my fault, as I have never threatened bodily harm to anyone here."

For the record, I have never posted as anyone else on WaPo.com -- I already posted how disappointed I was about Coleman but that I understood his decision -- it was a worthy cause to keep Franken out of the U.S. Senate for as long as we did.

So, wait a minute, if "everything" I post is a lie (including that Gov. Pawlenty will sign the certification papers), does that mean he won't sign?! Or, is this current post a "lie" too? It's like that Prisoner's Dilemma!!!

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For those new around here, this is an instance of JakeD's "autistic literalism" troll.

For example the figure of speech "nobody" believes you he will triumphantly point out that his fellow trolls (likely his own online alter egos) claim to believe him, therefore "nobody" is a lie.

Well, at least Coleman managed to suck a bunch of dollars out of gullible conservatives for a cause everyone knew was lost months ago. That's money that could have been doing something with results, up in flames. Poof! Unanimous rejection from the Court. Flush! Well done, Coleman.

Whew! I wonder what kind of credulous dolt would flush his money down the toilet like that, giving it to Coleman?

But come to think of it, it's probably the same sort of people who adamantly support Palin, eh? You go, Sarah girl. There's a lot more conservative dollars to burn through out there, y'betcha.

"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. HE shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years ... In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or of HIS Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the Same shall devolve on the Vice President ... The President shall, at stated Times, receive for HIS Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished during the Period for which HE shall have been elected, and HE shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

Before HE enter on the Execution of his Office, HE shall take the following Oath or Affirmation ..."

Section 2.

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; HE may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and HE shall have Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

HE shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and HE shall nominate ..."

Section 3.

"HE shall from time to time give to the Congress Information on the State of the Union ... HE may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, HE may adjourn them to such Time as HE shall think proper; HE shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; HE shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed ..."

Another querk, if Gov. Palin ever gets elected -- assuming I am still around and "chrisfox8" has not made good on his threats to kill me -- I would have to point out that there's no provision in the 19th Amendment (women's suffrage) to permit a female to become President of the United States.

I'm still interested, but it's academic. I looked at the FEC reports for Norm Coleman, and it looks like by law he (and Frankin) only had to report activity through 2008. Of course, most senate campaigns would be over by the end of the year =)

On Sunday, the citizens of Honduras woke up with one president and went to bed with an other. Manuel Zelaya was forced out of the country — replaced, with full backing from the Congress, the nation's courts, and its military with Interim President Robert Micheletti. (snip) In truth, it was much more of a last-ditch effort to protect Honduras' constitutional order and rule of law from a reckless populist.

Obambi on the wrong side again - as usual. why is he so fawning over despots?

Now that the Democrats have their 60 vote super majority, and the Republicans can't simply block legislation by threatening filibuster, will the Republicans grow up and begin actually working to craft legislation, rather than simply opposing it?

I just hope Franken has the brains and courage to be an independent voice from this disastrous White House. Obama's approval rating plunged to a -2 this week and his insane free trade, craven pro-corporate and Wall Street economic policies are going to cost the Democrats dearly.

Just returned from 10 days fishing the Henry's Fork! No politics, no newspapers or television. The debate was over whether a PMD emerger, Flav or olive caddis hatch was what the fish were what the trout were keying in on. (It was the olive caddis, size #14, most evenings). Largest fish was a 24" monster RB, with several even larger doing a "long distance release". Wonderful time.

Vizzini: Yes, Australia. And you must have suspected I would have known the powder's origin, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Man in Black: You're just stalling now.

Vizzini: You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong, so you could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting on your strength to save you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But, you've also bested my Spaniard, which means you must have studied, and in studying you must have learned that man is mortal, so you would have put the poison as far from yourself as possible, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Vizzini: IT HAS WORKED! YOU'VE GIVEN EVERYTHING AWAY! I KNOW WHERE THE POISON IS!

Man in Black: Then make your choice.

Vizzini: I will, and I choose - What in the world can that be?

Vizzini: [Vizzini gestures up and away from the table. Roberts looks. Vizzini swaps the goblets]

Man in Black: What? Where? I don't see anything.

Vizzini: Well, I- I could have sworn I saw something. No matter. First, let's drink. Me from my glass, and you from yours.

Man in Black, Vizzini: [they drink ]

Man in Black: You guessed wrong.

Vizzini: You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...

Vizzini: [Vizzini stops suddenly, and falls dead to the right]

Buttercup: And to think, all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.

Man in Black: They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder.

Man in Black: All right. Where is the poison? The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink, and find out who is right... and who is dead.

Drindl (I mean, Vizzini): But it's so simple. All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the sort of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me.

Man in Black: You've made your decision then?

Vizzini: Not remotely. Because iocane comes from Australia, as everyone knows, and Australia is entirely peopled with criminals, and criminals are used to having people not trust them, as you are not trusted by me, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.

Some people are speculating that Sen Coleman has his eye on the 2010 MN Governor's race. Why he'd want the job is anyone's guess; Pawlenty is leaving a projected $4.4 billion budget shortfall for the next gov. Coleman also lost one Gov race already - in 1998 to Jesse Ventura.

I think of it more like "good" vs. "evil" actually -- I know that the RNC and Romney's PAC donated quite a bit (I just stated that I donated another $100) but he will get more if he announces an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Next question?

So, wait a minute, if "everything" I post is a lie (including that Gov. Pawlenty will sign the certification papers), does that mean he won't sign?! Or, is this current post a "lie" too? It's like that Prisoner's Dilemma!!!

Do you interpret all political actions through a liberal/non-liberal framework?

I'm a graduate of Stanford, too: MS and PhD, Electrical Engineering. I am dismayed at the constant drumbeat by many in the comment section to give meaningless comments devoid of any intellectual effort except to spin political news as events in some grand liberal/conservative war.

On the Coleman/Franken struggle: what funds is Coleman using to support his campaign? Is he still getting any contributions?

Secretary Seiblis (sp?) admited that no cost estimate has been provided for ANY of the proposals by Dems. Also, you don't have to look after older people like me and my wife (we have a solid retirement package, thank you very much).

Jacked, How much more could universal health care cost us? Currently it is over 16% of the GDP and headed towards 20%. No, I can't tell you what the proposed reform will cost -- *it hasn't been proposed yet.*

When calculating the cost of the as-yet-to be-decided-upon health care reform we must start with what the current non-policy costs us as a country AND as individuals. These costs are direct costs and indirect, and it takes a bigger brain than yours or mine to gather this information accurately.

You say you are retired. Not so many years ago senior citizens had NO health coverage once they left the work force. We, as a society, said it was worth our while to look after older people like YOU. Private industry wouldn't cover old people so the Federal Government stepped up to the plate. You and your friends are lucky.
I know you can kick and grouse that Medicare is not perfect. We all know that, but we also know that we can't let Perfect be the enemy of Good.

LOL!!! You get what you pay for with free legal advice. I will gladly leave it to the federal appellate specialists to decide those questions (I'd be surprised if the brief hasn't already been prepared). We'll find out in 15 minutes.

Surely a graduate of any reasonably respectable law school could read the ruling and summarize the grounds for appeal, what arguments the appelant might make, and perhaps even comment on the likelihood of the court accepting the case. My guess is you can't reach that bar.

Whoops--didn't get that sentence right. Should be "Now if we could only elect more people whose working life consists of more that just working for a political pary, an elected official or being an elected official."

Not sure why this is "almost certainly" the end of the road. As Mr. Cillizza pointed out, Byrd and Kennedy aren't even voting. The U.S. Supreme Court won't even grant or deny cert. until October, so he can hang in there some more -- I just made another donation -- DON'T GIVE UP, Coleman!!!

Well, that's one issue resolve, and by unanimous decision instead of a one-vote majority split in ideological line. Most of the judges involved in this process were Republican appointees, so no one can say this was a partisan decision.

Now if we could only elect more people whose working life consists of either working for a political pary, an elected official or being an elected official. Government might be a bit more productive if we had more former business executives, community organizers, military servicemembers, teachers, doctors, and others with professional experience instead of just a lifelong devotion to their political party.

If nothing else, Franken brings some fresh blood to the mix. We'll just have to wait and see whether its a useful infusion or spilled on the floor.

Let us hope that Coleman now has the decency to give up this hopeless fight. However, given the state of the republican party in general and the United States Senate in particular, I have to see it before I believe it. My guess is that Coleman will appeal to the US Supreme Court. Given their 5-4 majority in that body Republicans may have their best shot to actually get one of those Bush-Gore decisions. I've come to believe that the facts natter little to the Supreme Court. Since Roberts and Alito got there (Especially Roberts the great champion of the over dog) they just rule 5-4 for the conservatives, ea the Republicans.

The earliest Franken could be seated is next week anyway with the Senate out of session. Coleman will hopefully announce that he will appeal to the UNITED STATES Supreme Court before that. Sorry to rain on your parade libs.

It's about time and Al Franken should be sworn in immediatelty!!! ASAP!

But go ahead Republicans keep on alienating the Hispanic vote. Thanks so much you Supreme Court right wingers!
Go ahead Norm Coleman continue this mess and appeal to Supreme Court Norm!!! Thanks Norm Colman and Tim Pawlenty for makeing the Republicans look like sore loosers with no integrity!
Thanks also goes to Govenor Sanford and Senator Ensign for for being cheats and using tax payor money for their sexual explotes.

I bet the Democrats and the Obama Administration is laughing at all of this and the Republicans.
REST IN PEACE (RIP)Republicans for a long....................time.

Just like Norm Coleman, it's finally time to move on to covering all the absurdities of the political world (a none-to-subtle hint to provide Fixistos with their twice-weekly dose of Mouthpiece Theatre). Enquiring Fixistos are salivating!